


the girl with blades for blood

by HeavenlyDusk



Category: All For the Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, M/M, this is a horrible au and none of it is my fault, what is this idek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-28 00:02:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8422912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeavenlyDusk/pseuds/HeavenlyDusk
Summary: His hair is black and his eyes are brown, but Renee takes one look at him and she knows that this is her little brother.(Or, in which Renee was Natalie Wesninski, and she would recognize her little brother anywhere)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HelloImOz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelloImOz/gifts).



> Oz! Darling! Light of my life! This is entirely your fault!  
> Ok, so this is actually entirely my fault for bringing it up, and for some reason I thought writing this was better than writing a headcanon rant on tumblr.  
> ...I should definitely be writing my Cinderella AU but whatever man.
> 
> Umm, obviously there are a lot of changes to this. You can probably figure that out, but also Mary takes Nathaniel when he's nine, and then they get caught when Nathaniel is 13-14. Renee is adopted at seventeen. Ignore my major plot holes and just enjoy the story okay? I'm a horrible writer I'm sorry. This is all unedited bullshit and I was too lazy to grab my books to check for accurate information.
> 
> The Andreil is more mentioned than anything, but it's there. For the most part, this just focuses on Renee and Neil.

She is born Natalie Wesninski, after her father, Nathan. She has her mother’s hair but she grows up with her father’s affinity with knives.

She takes to her lessons like a duck to water. Her mother frowns at her, but her father looks proud every time he sees her grab for the knives. He calls her a natural. Lola says she can’t wait for her to grow up and help build the empire even larger. She doesn’t understand these words because she’s a child, but she’s eager to learn more.

She is four when her little brother, Nathaniel, is born. He grows up all auburn hair and blue eyes, but he has their mother’s height and baby face.

She doesn’t like him because he makes her like him. He’s quiet, too quiet, and although he follows his lessons without argument and doesn’t blink every time he watches their father cut a man, he is small and weak. He doesn’t fight like the son of the Butcher of Baltimore, even when Natalie screams and pulls at his hair and scowls at him. He’s innocent—soft. She hates him because she wants to protect him.

He is their mother’s undisputed favorite.

Natalie had never been close to her mother, and that never changes even as she grows out of being a child. She can see how her mother flicks her gaze away every time she sees Natalie playing with one of her father’s knives. It’s obvious she doesn’t like Nathan’s business as the Butcher of Baltimore, but she stays. She doesn’t stick around much for Natalie, but she’s around and there’s always something in their relationship. They are mother and daughter, after all.

As Nathaniel grows up, Natalie watches her mother smooth out his hair and—not exactly fuss, but she makes more of an effort with him. Natalie is nine, and her brother has long since stopped crying over what he’s forced to do, but their mother seems pleased at this fact. It makes little sense, because Mary Wesninski is a part of this business too, and she had to have married Nathan for a reason. But Natalie never asks.

Natalie doesn’t feel bitter about Mary favoring Nathaniel because she doesn’t know Mary well enough to care. She cares about how Nathaniel doesn’t try to advance or do any better. He doesn’t take to the knife lessons as well as Natalie does, and he looks confused whenever she brings it up. He doesn’t fight back when she yells at him.

Natalie is their father’s daughter, and Nathaniel is their mother’s son, and she hates him just a little bit for it.

She is eleven when Nathaniel starts playing Exy.

He throws himself into it, calling himself _Abram_ whenever their mother takes him out to play games and practice. Natalie watches sometimes, when she’s forced to go because their father is in a meeting or something of the sort. It’s the only time she seems him do something that makes him truly excited. He’s never been particularly happy or upset when they watch their father with a victim, or when he’s learning how to take over the empire.

This is what makes Natalie a little bitter.

Nathaniel has found something that he loves. Natalie is good with knives and she seeks to improve, but it’s not something she cares for, not really. She does it because she’s good at it and because she likes seeing her father proud even if it’s not quite a smile in her direction. It’s better than getting hurt for it, even if she still has the scars to remind her of everything she does wrong.

But Nathaniel plays Exy and he goes up to their mother with the most excited grin on his face. Mary doesn’t care for Exy, but she pats his head and watches his games when she can even if she later pulls his hair and reminds him not to draw too much attention to himself. She allows him to play because it’s normal and children are supposed to play sports. Nathaniel soaks up the opportunity.

Meanwhile, Natalie has nothing that makes her look alive the way Nathaniel does. She fights him over it and she _hates_ the way he just looks at her with blank eyes.

She is thirteen when their father loses money and her brother is to be sold to the Moriyamas.

She isn’t sure what she thinks of it. Nathaniel is a constant presence around the house, so she knows it would feel weird without him there. She knows who the Moriyamas are and what they do, too, so she isn’t sure how Nathaniel would react to that life. Surprisingly, she feels a little angry at it, but she can’t fathom why. She puts it down to becoming a teenager and growing up.

She’s with her father while Nathaniel plays with Kevin Day and Riko Moriyama. She watches the boys as her father cuts a man to pieces. Riko looks on with glee, a sick look in his eyes. Kevin looks horrified, meaning he probably hasn’t seen anything like this before. As always, Nathaniel has this dead look in his eyes, unblinking because he’s seen their father like this far, far too many times.

The next morning, an alarm sounds and her brother and mother are gone.

* * *

Nathan throws himself into teaching Natalie. He’s angry, obsessed with bringing them back, but while Mary hadn’t enjoyed the things he did, she was still a criminal. She evades him and moves and Natalie hurts because of it.

Natalie isn’t surprised that Mary left her with Nathan. She had no reason to take her, and Nathan isn’t going to kill her off. He doesn’t send her with the Moriyamas though because he needs an heir and she wouldn’t be useful for another five years at least. Still, she can’t help but be angry that Mary had left her. She took her brother, for reasons she doesn’t understand, and left with no warning, taking money and power with her.

Natalie trains in Exy in secret, wanting to know why her brother loves it and _not_ wanting to remember him. She’s not good at it—she fumbles, but she throws the balls just fine if she’s not aching with the lessons and the injuries given to her.

Nathan seems to be determined to make Nathaniel come back. It’s scary. He’s already decided that Natalie will be his heir, but Nathaniel _has to come back_. She doesn’t get it, even though she’s a teenager and she knows a little more than she should.

She is seventeen when she’s in Seattle and Nathan kills her mother.

It’s the first time she’s seen Nathaniel in years. This time, he’s Troy, with blond hair and brown eyes, but she knows it’s him even though he’s just becoming a teenager and his body is changing. He doesn’t look at her, too preoccupied with their mother.

Nathan shoots Mary, but she doesn’t die instantly. She takes Nathaniel and drives away and the cops are there before Nathan can go after them.

They take Natalie because they think she’s traumatized. She doesn’t feel traumatized. She doesn’t feel anything, and she’s put into a foster home where she doesn’t talk to anyone and glares at those who try to make her. Her father is in prison and her mother has left with Nathaniel and she has been taken away from everything she’s ever known.

She’s adopted by Stephanie Walker.

It’s a slow process, but she learns about God and His love. She thinks about being forgiven for all the bad that she’s done in her life. She thinks about Stephanie and how she guides with her a gentle and loving smile—something Mary had never given her or anyone. She yearns for the possibility, and she thanks God when she becomes Renee Walker and works on her redemption.

She leaves Natalie Wesninski in Seattle, locked away like her father. Stephanie is her mother, the one she’s never had before, and she teaches her how to love and be patient and how to be someone that wouldn’t go for the kill when provoked. She finds God and she starts to smile and is grateful for this opportunity to become someone new. She cuts her hair short and bleaches her hair white and dyes the ends pastel colors. She wears a cross and begins to smile more and she prays before going to bed.

Natalie—now Renee—thinks frequently of her little brother. She had never accepted it before, but she knows now that she loves him. She hopes he’s doing okay, wherever he is. She wishes she could see him again and tell him how she loves him even though it’s been years. She hopes he finds a family that can take care of him.

She continues to play Exy through her final year of high school as a goalkeeper. She isn’t the type to fight, but it’s still a way to remember Nathaniel. She thinks she can understand why he loved it so much, but only a little. She doesn’t feel alive the way Nathaniel seemed to have, but it’s nice. She has a little aggression in her that she can take out without any fighting or threat of hurting someone on accident. She knows that she’s a little stronger than these children, and a little more deadly too.

She’s scouted by David Wymack, coach for the PSU Foxes. She says yes.

* * *

Renee is the only one who can get along with the Foxes on the team, but a few of them still hate her smiles and attempts at optimism. They wonder why she’s on the team because she doesn’t seem as broken as them. They don’t know her past and she doesn’t tell them.

She plays along with Dan and Allison as a united front because girls are supposed to be weaker than the boys. None of them can afford to appear weak. She smiles happily when they realize that they’re all friends and not just pretending. It’s nice to have friends. She’s never had any before.

She tells them an edited version of her story. She was born Natalie. Her father was not a good man and she grew up having to learn how to wield knives and fight like she’s dying. Her mother finally put him in prison, but not before dying herself. She doesn’t tell them about her brother, wanting to keep him secret.

The Foxes become hers. She loves them, or at least, she loves the girls. Later, she loves Matt and Seth too. Seth only really tolerates them because he likes Allison and he likes getting laid, but he’s nice to her. He doesn’t glare at her so much. She’s a little hesitant to accept him, but Allison likes him and he doesn’t hurt her, so she doesn’t say anything.

Andrew comes in later. He comes with his cousin and his brother and he doesn’t say much to anyone. He’s hyped up on medication and Allison declares him a psycho after the first day when he nearly attacked team member for a stray comment about Nicky. Renee frowns at that team member and later she tells Nicky that she doesn’t mind his sexuality when she sees him being hesitant around her.

Renee thinks Andrew’s like her: a little broken, but wanting to become better. He doesn’t like her, ignores her like she’s nothing, but she approaches him with a smile and asks about his weapons. He eyes her like she shouldn’t be trusted, so she shows him her own knives. That’s when the smile widens.

“Oh, you’re going to be interesting, I can tell,” he croons.

Renee smiles back at him because he’s opening up to her. It’s not a lot and a majority of their relationship consists of sparring at first, but it’s enough. He tells her as little as possible, but he tells her things and she tells him about her life. She tells him the edited version because he doesn’t have the right to know just as she doesn’t need to know everything about him. Her brother is her own and her family’s business is too dangerous for anyone else to know.

Andrew becomes someone she can interact with without being the perfect and sweet Christian girl. She tries to be a good person, but she knows that she would be ready to do anything for her friends. Andrew understands this better than anyone else, because he would do anything for his family too, as estranged as they are.

Kevin Day comes later with a broken hand. Renee feels a bit of resentment when he comes, begging for a new life and then being ruthless in their training. It’s left over resentment, from the fact that he had been a part of the Moriyamas when Nathaniel had to be taken from her. She doesn’t let it show and welcomes him when Andrew does.

It’s not his fault. He probably knew what Nathaniel would be joining him for, but it isn’t like he was the one who made the decision. Yet Renee is still a little bitter that her little brother was taken from her because of that, and that passes on to Kevin. It may have been a good thing, because otherwise Nathan wouldn’t be in jail, but she wants to see her brother again. She wants to know that he’s alive. No matter how good it was that Nathaniel had left, she wants him back.

Kevin doesn’t recognize her. It makes sense, and she hopes he never realizes it. She is not Natalie Wesninski anymore—she is Renee Walker. She is a Fox, her mother is Stephanie Walker, and she has no ties to the Butcher of Baltimore.

Andrew brings Kevin in and tells Renee the why. Renee makes a note not to cross him, not that she had any plan to. She makes sure to keep the others away from them, or at least, she makes sure they understand why they shouldn’t.

Renee’s people are the girls and Matt and Seth. Andrew’s people are his cousin and his brother and Kevin. There’s a rift between their teams as a result, but it’s still the closest thing to family.

* * *

Janie Smalls doesn’t show up as their new team member. Neil Josten comes instead, sitting with Andrew and his ilk. His hair is black and his eyes are brown, but Renee takes one look at him and she knows that this is her little brother.

Her heart skips a beat when she sees him, but his eyes pass over her once. There’s no recognition in his gaze. He only looks at her to assess her and who she is, but nothing more. He frowns a little in her direction, but he doesn’t see Natalie Wesninski. She’s not sure if this is a relief or a disappointment.

Renee has to stop herself from calling him Nathaniel, but he doesn’t notice that other.

Nathaniel—or is he Neil?—becomes a part of Andrew’s group after Columbia. Renee’s not sure why. She’s a little angry at Andrew for making him hitchhike his way back to campus. If she’s a little more aggressive when they spar, he doesn’t say anything. Maybe he appears to relish in it, but she doesn’t care enough to really think about it.

Kevin yells at Nathaniel far too much for her liking, but she doesn’t do anything about it. She wants to, though, because she sees the way Nathaniel holds himself. She sees that he’s more broken than the last time she saw him and she doesn’t think yelling at him will make it better. He surprises her though—he trains harder and he works to get better and Andrew looks at him like he’s a threat but also…

Renee doesn’t think too hard on it. She doesn’t want to think about how Andrew finds her little brother attractive.

Nathaniel mouths off to Riko on national television and Renee feels a sick sort of glee at seeing it happen. She never once saw that side of Nathaniel, but maybe that was because he was afraid of her. She had never been nice to him back then, yelling and hitting him because he was weaker than her and didn’t understand a thing and he needed to get stronger.

She wants to hurt Riko when Nathaniel comes back later looking worse and Andrew tells her what’s happened. She doesn’t because she doesn’t have the means and it’s not her right. It’s not Riko’s time, but she knows it will come to her—by her hand, or someone else’s. She just hopes Andrew will keep Nathaniel alive long enough for it to happen. She likes Andrew, but if anything were to happen to her little brother, she wouldn’t hesitate in attempting to at least cripple Andrew for letting it happen.

Seth dies on a night that Nathaniel is out with Andrew’s group. Nathaniel very clearly blames himself, and maybe it is a little bit his fault, but this is all Riko’s doing. Renee doesn’t tell Allison to talk to Nathaniel again, but she hints at it and makes a few comments on him.

Jean Moreau outs Nathaniel to Kevin. Renee pretends not to know what they’re saying, because she’s not supposed to know French. She wants to hurt the boy for making Nathaniel look so scared. Her brother has had enough hurt in his life and he doesn’t need any reminders. She overhears his conversation with Kevin—she eavesdrops, more like—and notes the way he insists to be called Neil. She reminds herself not to think of him as ‘Nathaniel’ anymore if it hurts him so much. If she could become Renee from Natalie, he should be able to become Neil from Nathaniel.

If Kevin knows, then she thinks that she should tell Neil about herself too. She doesn’t want him in the dark, and she wants to be able to become his sister. Maybe not openly, but enough so that he knows.

“I was born Natalie Renee,” she tells him, watches his eyes go a little wider. “I was the daughter of a cruel man and a woman that didn’t pay attention to me. My father taught me everything and I watched him kill and torture so many people knowing that I would do the same one day. I’m still a bad person, but I’m a bad person trying very hard to be a good person. When my father got put in prison, I was adopted by Stephanie Walker. I thank her for giving me this opportunity to become a better person, as well as introducing me to a God that loves me. I want to try even more, by becoming an older sister.”

Neil stares at her, frozen except for his jaw working soundlessly. Then he runs. He turns and sprints and Renee can do nothing but watch sadly until she dials Andrew and asks him to find Neil because he ran and she knows he won’t take kindly to her going after him.

Andrew pushes Neil towards her the next time they see her, calling him an idiot through gritted teeth and an angry smile.

“I’m sorry,” Neil says softly so the older boy won’t hear. “I don’t… How am I supposed to react to this?” She can hear the unspoken words, the questions. _Why now? Can we really be siblings again? My memories of you aren’t the kindest, so how can I trust you?_

Renee smiles at him, hoping to convey comfort and trust. “You’re my brother,” she tells him, equally as soft. “I want to be the sister you never had before. I will do what I can to protect you, okay? Let me try, okay?”

Maybe Neil doesn’t immediately trust her, but he’s more open after that. She can be okay with that.

* * *

She has to wonder if Neil really knows that he might have something beginning to form with him and Andrew. The innocent questions about Andrew can’t just be innocent curiosity. The two of them are close. Andrew tells Neil things and he tells him half-truths and outright lies. Renee watches Andrew become a little more frustrated with Neil and she catches him staring like he wants to kill him for making him stare.

She smiles at that because the two of them deserve happiness. She thinks they might be good for each other, but only when they figure out who they are first.

Aaron kills a man for Andrew. Renee is horrified to find that he has to become a murderer, and she’s horrified that Andrew had to relive a terrible part of his childhood, and she’s horrified that Neil was there to witness it too.

Andrew leaves and Neil is a little quieter. He watches Kevin and he sticks to his group, but he finds more comfort in Renee. She tells him what she can and tries to be a good sister that he can depend on, but he’s not inclined to follow much. He talks a little bit about their mother and what she put him through. He tells her about some of the lighter parts of his travels, but he’s content to listen to her talk for the most part.

She loses sight of him at the winter banquet, and she doesn’t understand when Neil talks to Kevin in French about these tickets. She offers to let him stay with her and Stephanie for break, thinking maybe they could become family. He declines the offer.

It’s not until later that she learns from Matt that he claims to have to go back to Millport because of his uncle. Renee remembers Stuart Hatford, and she’s certain he’s still in Britain and not about to simply visit Neil. If he did come, Renee knows that Neil wouldn’t be coming back.

Winter break ends and Renee returns to the tower to find Neil black and blue and with the number ‘4’ on his cheek and looking so much like their father that it makes her sick. She wants to break a few things, so Andrew lets her injure him more than usual. He doesn’t ask why—apparently Neil never told him they’re siblings. It’s a blessing. Renee feels much more subdued once she gets her anger out, but that doesn’t take away the fact that she wants Riko to _die_.

* * *

“I never understood why he liked knives so much,” Neil says at one point, eyes a little blank.

Andrew assumes he means Riko.

Renee knows better. She knows he’s thinking of their father, and she thinks she might kill him if he ever gets out of prison.

* * *

Neil asks her to save Jean Moreau because he was the only good thing at the Nest.

Renee looks at Moreau, calculating. He’s tough, but she sees a broken boy that could have been Neil, and she sees someone she could come to love like another brother.

She gives him her number and hopes she might be able to save him.

* * *

Maybe it’s because she isn’t paying attention or maybe it’s because she doesn’t anticipate it, but Neil is taken right from under her nose and she should have been on alert. She knows that something has been wrong, that Neil was a little more jumpy, but they won the game and Allison was excited but that doesn’t excuse her not noticing.

Andrew realizes it first, but she notices immediately after him when he comes on the bus and Neil doesn’t. They’re all nursing some injuries, but Andrew doesn’t seem to care even though his face is bleeding and he demands to know where Neil is.

There’s a search—frantic and desperate and Andrew finds his bag and his keys and his phone. There’s nothing on it but a ‘0’ and Renee is so, so ashamed of herself.

Renee is ready to leave the motel room and go looking for her brother, but she stays with the Foxes because she doesn’t know where to look and what if they go for her people too? Kevin stares blankly at his Exy racquet and Andrew paces and nobody touches them. Renee sits idly by the window, unsure of what to do and scared—so scared.

Thinking back, she doesn’t know why she didn’t recognize Jackson. She had become lax, thinking that nothing would happen. Obviously, something has happened and her brother is gone for it. She doesn’t know why she wasn’t taken too, but maybe they just haven’t been able to find her. Or maybe she’s not important. Once, that may have hurt her, but now she wishes she were more important than Neil so she could have been taken instead of him.

Wymack gets a call. The Foxes wait with bated breath until he hangs up.

“So,” he says, “that was the FBI.”

“ _What?_ ” Renee isn’t sure who says it, but they’re all thinking it.

Wymack holds up a hand to quiet them. “Neil’s in the hospital. In Baltimore.”

Renee freezes. There’s a clatter. Everybody turns to Kevin. His eyes are wide and unseeing.

“He’s dead,” he says softly. “He has to be. There’s—there’s no way he can be alive. Not if he’s in Baltimore.”

Andrew takes a step forward, gaze hooded and deadly. “Kevin.”

Kevin doesn’t even move, too horrified. “He can’t be alive. He can’t.”

“ _Kevin_ ,” Andrew repeats. He takes another step. “ _What do you know?_ ”

Kevin shuts his mouth with an audible click. Andrew doesn’t even wait—he breaks his own rule and walks until he’s close enough to wrap his hands around Kevin’s neck. Kevin chokes, terrified and he tugs at Andrew’s hands.

“ _What_ do you _know_?” Andrew says again. His voice promises threats.

Renee intervenes before Kevin can pass out. She doesn’t touch Andrew, but she holds her hands out.

“Andrew,” she says gently. “We’ll tell you everything if you stop choking Kevin.”

All eyes snap to her. Everybody’s confused, she can tell. They don’t understand, but then, she doesn’t expect them to. It’s been her secret—hers and Neil’s. She never asked if Neil told Kevin about her, but she supposes this is her answer.

Andrew’s grip weakens until his hands drop to his sides. He narrows his eyes at her, ignoring the way Kevin gasps for air. The taller man is staring at her, too, confused, but realization floods his gaze soon.

“You’re—“ he chokes out.

Renee nods. “I am.” She turns to the Foxes and smiles apologetically at them. “I owe all of you an apology. I never told you the whole truth. I’m not sure where I should start, really, but… I guess I should start with Neil’s parents.”

“Your parents,” Kevin mutters.

“What does he mean?” Allison asks, demands. “Renee, what the hell?”

“Neil’s actually Nathaniel Wesninski,” Kevin says before Renee can. He talks about Nathan Wesninski, the Butcher of Baltimore, and the deal made with the Moriyamas. He explains how he knew Nathaniel once and only once before Mary took him and ran. Renee jumps in her with her own knowledge, but otherwise, stays quiet.

“Where does Renee fit into all this?” Dan asks. “You haven’t explained that.”

“Because I didn’t know,” Kevin huffs. “Not until today. She never told me, and I only ever saw her in passing. I knew her even less than I knew Nathaniel.”

“His _name_ is _Neil_ ,” Renee says, smiling in a way that promises death if Kevin calls her brother that name again. “As for me, I already told you that I was born Natalie, correct? My full name was Natalie Renee Wesninski.”

Silence.

* * *

It’s no surprise that Andrew gives her the cold shoulder as they make their way to Neil. She doesn’t try to get him to talk to her. They sit on opposite sides of the bus. Andrew gives off an aura worse than usual. It’s been subdued for a while—a result of Neil, she’s sure, and she makes a note to ask about their relationship—so she’s surprised when she feels his anger from across the bus.

The other Foxes aren’t sure what to do, but they stick close to her as though Andrew might kill her. It’s funny, because she knows she’d be able to beat Andrew. She might just let him kill her, though, if Neil is hurt badly.

She has to hold back a gasp when she sees her little brother. She feels the tears in her eyes, and she presses a delicate hand to her lips.

“Neil…” she whispers. He doesn’t hear her, glancing around for someone.

“Where’s—“

Andrew bursts in and an officer—someone that makes Renee want to take her knives back to cut him—almost arrests him there before Neil stops him. Renee almost chokes when Neil has to immediately curl up in pain.

She watches Andrew and Neil move like they’re familiar with each other. Neil cracks smart jokes even though Andrew is staring at him like he might kill him for doing this. Nicky chokes out a gasp when Andrew peals the bandages off Neil’s face. Renee tries to peer over him. She sees the burns and the scars and she wants to kill her father all over again.

Abby tries to approach.

“Don’t touch us,” Andrew says, almost snarling.

“Andrew—“

“Andrew, please.” Renee takes one step forward. Andrew narrows his eyes at her.

“One at a time,” the officer reminds them.

“Fuck off,” Neil says. He turns to look at Renee, less guarded than he has been.

The officer tries to say that they’re only there because he allows it. Neil calls bullshit on it. He talks to Andrew is German. Renee regrets never learning the language.

Neil is meant to leave with the FBI. Andrew goes with him because it’s like he won’t move from Neil’s side without a crowbar. Renee wants to go with him, so she steps away from the group.

“I’m coming too,” she says. She leaves no room for arguments.

“Why _you_?” the officer asks, frowning.

“I might have information that Neil doesn’t,” she says matter-of-factly. “I’m Natalie Wesninski.”

They let her go with them. Andrew still doesn’t look at her and she tries not to eavesdrop on them.

“I asked Neil Josten to stay,” Andrew mutters, cautious of her presence. “Leave Nathaniel buried in Baltimore.”

She’s glad Neil has someone.

* * *

Andrew and Neil’s relationship is brought to light, but Renee seems to be the only one to know that there are feelings there. Neil doesn’t tell her much, but he talks about Andrew like he’s everything. It’s hard to get him alone, because Andrew doesn’t seem to want him out of his sight, but Andrew reluctantly trusts her again. She’s Neil’s older sister and she’ll protect him.

Neil sits with her and he doesn’t say much, but he tells her a little about Lola and Nathan and Andrew. He’s not sure what his thing with Andrew is, but he doesn’t want it to stop. He looks at her with hope that she won’t stop him from having a _this_ with Andrew. As if she would stop him.

“Can I hug you?” Renee asks. Neil nods hesitantly, and she wraps an arm around him. She’s gentle, ready to pull away if he wants her to. “I’m happy for you, Neil. Andrew’s good for you, and you’re good for him.”

* * *

She wants to kill Riko all over again when she has to pick up Jean from the Nest. She likes the boy because she can’t help loving strays. Just like she loves her brother, just as she loves Andrew, and the girls and Matt and even Andrew’s group.

Jean is broken and damaged and she has to keep from marching up to Riko and stabbing him where he is. But a quick death wouldn’t do it for her. She would take a page from her father’s book and skin him and cut him to pieces before he dies.

She can’t because Jean is more important. She doesn’t want him to die. He’s suffered enough for one lifetime. Neil found his happiness, she found hers, and it’s time Jean does too.

* * *

Jeremy agrees to take in Jean.

Ichirou kills Riko.

Neil smiles and pulls Andrew in for a kiss at the end of it all.

Renee’s only regret is that she wasn’t able to see Ichirou kill the sick bastard or do it herself, but her brother is alive and they’re both happy and that’s all she can ask for.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Bound by Blood](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9523517) by [mumuinc](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mumuinc/pseuds/mumuinc)




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